[12] Next to the Chelonatas is the long tract of coast of the Pisatæ; then follows a promontory, Pheia; there was also a small town of this name;
for there is a small river near it. Some writers say, that Pheia is the commencement of the Pisatis. In front of Pheia is a small island and a harbour; thence to Olympia by sea, which is the shortest way, is 120 stadia. Then immediately follows another promontory, [Icthys,] projecting very far towards the west, like the Chelonatas; from this promontory to Cephallenia are 120 stadia. Next the Alpheius discharges itself, at the distance from the Chelonatas of 280, and from the Araxus of 545, stadia. It flows from the same places as the Eurotas. There is a village of the name of Asea in the Megalopolitis, where the two sources, whence the above-mentioned rivers issue, are near to one another. After running under the earth the distance of many stadia, they then rise to the surface, when one takes its course to Laconia, the other to the Pisatis. The Eurotas reappears at the commencement of the district Bleminates, flowing close beside Sparta, and passing through a long valley near Helos, which the poet mentions, empties itself between Gythium, the naval arsenal of Sparta, and Acræa. But the Alpheius, after receiving the Celadon, (Ladon?) and Erymanthus, and other obscure streams, pursues its course through Phrixa, and the Pisatis, and Triphylia, close to Olympia, and discharges itself into the Sicilian Sea between Pheia and Epitalium. At its mouth, and at the distance of 80 stadia from Olympia, is situated the grove of Artemis Alpheionia, or Alpheiusa, for both words are in use. At Olympia an annual festival, to which multitudes resort, is celebrated in honour of this goddess, as well as of Diana Elaplia and Diana Daphnia. The whole country is full of temples dedicated to Diana, and Aphrodite, and the Nymphs, which are situated amidst flowery groves, and generally where there is abundance of water. Hermeia, or images of Mercury, are frequently met with on the road, and on the sea-shore, temples dedicated to Neptune. In the temple of Diana Alpheionia are pictures by Cleanthes and Aregon, Corinthian painters; the former has depicted the taking of Troy, and the birth of Minerva; the latter, Diana borne upon a griffin; which are highly esteemed.“ by the walls of Pheia about the stream of the Jardanes,
”I. vii. 135.
